The Man Who Knows Everything
by Besieged Infection
Summary: I had always thought of Axel as the boy who knew everything. It had never occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't.


**The Man Who Knows Everything**

**A story by Besieged Infection**

**Standard Disclaimer Applies**

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"Hey, Roxas; bet you don't know why the sun sets red," Axel drawled, eyes lighting over the town so far below us, tracing over the shadows of the buildings. His head tilted oh-so-slightly at this, and his hair- a fiery mass of red spiking back in a way that it seemed almost as if it were fire itself tamed to fit atop the boy's head- seemed to steal the red from the sun in that moment. It always did, but today it seemed especially so as it put his eyes in stark contrast with his skin.

His eyes were a flat pale green, as always. There was nothing special about Axel's eyes, despite how everyone was always saying they were a window to the soul. If they really were windows where was the tell-tale sparkle of knowledge? Where was that fire and sheer _laziness_ that was Axel? Where was the _wisdom_ they were supposed to reveal? No- Axel's eyes were a flat pale green. Today, though, the seemed almost to hold emotion- as if a window really was opening to his soul. Maybe some of that wisdom was peeking out between the curtains.

Through my eyes, Axel had always been the boy who knew everything. Ever since I'd first met him at daycare, Axel had been the older, more experienced of our small group. He'd led Xion and I around the playground as if we were up to something devious, and taught us everything from planting pinecones so that they'd actually _grow_ to begging your parents _just_ the right way to sleep over at your friend's house on a school night. After all, the redhead knew _everything_.

"You see, light is made up of lots of colors," he began, "and out of all those colors red is the one that travels the farthest." He then finished with a long gaze into the sunset; an arm draped over one leg as he slumped where he sat.

"Like I asked, Know-It-All," I scoffed, laughing it off. Before long he was laughing right along with me. There was silence, then, and I tore my eyes away from the redhead to stare instead towards the sunset as he shifted to lie across the walkway, legs hanging over the ledge. "Seriously- where is she?" I asked, looking away from the sunset to search for our missing companion. She didn't show.

Axel was quiet, but I didn't think anything of it. Turning back to the sunlight, I thought instead of what Axel had said about the sunlight. He really _was_ the boy that knew everything.

Holding the thought, I turned to look at Axel, who was adjusting once more to take his usual seat next to me on the ledge, taking in his form. Lithe, but graceful in its bony execution, and his skin was deathly pale. His eyes were flat, as always- though they held that little spark I'd noted earlier-, and his hair was particularly shiny that day. But that wasn't what I was looking at.

Large hands dangled from boney wrists, large and strong despite how scrawny the rest of him looked. A sharp jaw was usually overlooked in favor of his hair was prominent; a perfect angle: not too strong, but not too slight- just the right mix of both. Then there was a stubborn chin, a thin wire of muscle lining his body, and that constant reminder that Axel was an entire seven years my senior.

No. At this point, Axel wasn't the boy who knew everything- he was the _man_ who knew everything. After all- he was twenty-two while I was still fifteen.

The sun was reaching out to the world with its last rays at that moment, setting with the final splotches of red against the deep blue horizon, prompting us to stand and leave.

"Hey, Roxas," the man said for the second time that evening just as I'd started toward the exit. I turned to him, then, taking in how his hair seemed to steal the color from everything around it and absorb every bit of radiance for itself. Except for his eyes… People say that the eyes are the window into the soul, and in that moment I was willing to believe it.

His eyes were their own source of never ending color, burning into me and through the other side with their intensity. It wasn't as if he was glaring at me, but his expression was that of someone who didn't know _what_ to feel. Angry, forlorn, happiness, and just a hint of apprehension. His eyes simply _shone_ with those feelings, burning through my gaze, into my eyes, through my head and out through the back of my skull. After this was a flash of determination as he leaned forward and…

Oh…

My cheeks burned as he pressed his lips to mine, bending nearly in half to do so as he slipped those large hands around my waist to pull me to him. Shocked, I tried to push him away, and I found myself almost in tears when he stopped kissing me. I was scared. Scared because he was the man who knew everything, and thus he knew this was wrong.

But he didn't- he just left.

And then it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't the man who knew everything. Maybe he was just Axel.

Then I almost cried, because if Axel really had been the man who knew everything then he'd know that there was a part of me in the back of my head screaming for him to come back and kiss me again and again until I couldn't hold myself up any more. As it was, he didn't.

Biting my lip, I rushed after him, catching the man on the stairs, pressing him against the wall as he tried to escape my hold. Then, tugging him down to me, I crushed our lips together, tangling my hands in that hair that stole the color from everything else. I needed him to know. I needed him to know that my mind didn't scream for the man who knew everything- my mind screamed for Axel.

Just Axel.

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**End Notes: I hope you guys liked this one. Kudos, cookies, and epic wins once again to Zenelly for beta-ing this chapter right off the bat like she did. (Yes, Return is still on hold.)**

**Love,**

**Besieged Infection**


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